Journal entry by Abby Bryan —
A quick update to fill you in on Gideon’s progress! This may be one of our last updates as Gideon is doing really well. Seth and I still feel overwhelmed with gratitude that God allowed our son to live. We are so grateful to recently have celebrated him turning 3 months! Life at home has been WILD since we brought Gideon home. 5 kids under 6 with three in diapers (don’t judge us, we are working on the potty training!) has proven a challenge. We praise God for every crazy, beautiful moment. No one knows what tomorrow holds and all of our children’s lives feel like a gift.
Today my Mom was able to join me at a couple appointments at CHOP downtown. One was to repeat Gideon’s sweat test to clarify if he has Cyctis Fibrosis or not. Unfortunately he didn’t produce enough sweat again, so we will go back at some point and retest. The other appointment was with the neurologist, the same Dr who did Gideon’s initial MRI. We had an extremely encouraging meeting with her (she is an exceptional doctor and human…very caring and a wonderful listener). The huge praise is that so far the development Gideon is presenting is consistent with the good MRI results early on. There have been NO seizures, NO development delays and NO further heart issues. Praise God! Because of this there is no need to repeat an MRI. Gideon still has a bevy of appts: pulmonology, cardiology (he will continue to be on a heart medication for about a year as a precaution), early intervention and he will be assessed at a high risk clinic. But so far, he is checking all the developmental boxes. Having my Mom with me today felt so redemptive. I was able to show her our “home” for that month he was in the NICU and recall the many tears and prayers on his behalf.
Seth and I want to thank you; for your prayers, cards, donations, help with childcare. We will say it again, there is truly nothing like God’s people being the church and surrounding our family with love. We thank even the strangers out there that we don’t know. THANK YOU!
A final note: many of you have asked about updates on my sister Jen and her husband Stuart’s precious son, Calvin McCommas. Shortly before our previous post, Calvin passed on and is now experiencing pure joy and perfection in Jesus’ arms. Our entire family is heartbroken but we specifically ask for continued prayers for Calvin’s siblings and parents as they grieve their beloved boy. Words fail and tears are still flowing as I type this. Calvin is so missed.
I invite you to search for Calvin’s Caringbridge site and view this beautiful video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8sWCHN16ODo